Wu Yize Wins Shenzhen Open, His First Final Since the Crucible

Wu Yize beat Yuan Sijun 10–5 in Sunday's final of the Shenzhen Open. It is his third ranking title, worth £177,000, and it lifts him to a career-high second in the world rankings, behind Zhao Xintong. That is the first time the top two in the world have both come from China.

The title is not the surprising part. The surprising part is how ordinary his five months after the Crucible had been, and how close he came to going out of this event in his first match.

Five months without a final

Wu beat Shaun Murphy 18–17 in the World Championship final in May. Before Shenzhen he played six events this season and did not reach a final in any of them.

His best run was the Shanghai Masters, an invitation event, where Judd Trump beat him 10–6 in the semi-finals. In the four ranking events after that he won four matches and lost four, and never got past the last 16. David Gilbert beat him 6–2 at the China Open. Artemijs Zizins beat him 5–4 in the last 64 of the Wuhan Open. Kyren Wilson beat him 4–1 at the British Open, and Liam Davies did the same at the English Open.

That is a normal stretch for a good professional. It is not what the world champion is usually expected to produce.

Nearly out on day two

In the last 64 Wu led Jamie Clarke 3–0, with breaks of 67, 143 and 88. Clarke then won four frames in a row, with breaks of 65, 80, 59 and 85, and led 4–3. Wu needed both remaining frames. He took the eighth with a 123 and the decider 103–30.

He won another decider in the quarter-finals, against Murphy again. Murphy led 3–2 after breaks of 104, 98 and 68. Wu made 94 and 121 to lead 4–3, lost the eighth 59–57, then finished with a 117 in the last frame. Two of his five matches in Shenzhen went the full distance.

What he did to Trump

The semi-final is the result to remember. Trump came into it scoring as heavily as anyone has all season. In his three matches before the semi-final (he had a walkover in the last 32) he won 15 frames, and in 14 of them he made a break of 50 or more. He beat Mark Selby 5–0 in the quarter-final without letting him reach 50.

Trump made a 77 to win the first frame on Saturday. Then Wu won six in a row, and Trump did not make another break of 50 in the match.

Wu did not outscore him with long breaks either. He won the second and fourth frames without a 50, 78–40 and 68–47, and the fifth 63–55. Three of his six frames were close ones that came down to safety and the last few balls. Trump scored 266 points in the match, 189 of them after the opening frame. Wu won 6–1 and finished with a 110.

The final turned in one frame

Wu started the final with a 117 and an 80 and led 3–1. Yuan won the next three frames, with a 61 in the seventh, and led 4–3. In the eighth Yuan made a 71, which looked like enough to go 5–3 up. Wu won it 74–71.

From 3–4 down Wu won seven of the last eight frames, with breaks of 69, 74, 62 and 56. Over the match he scored 1,012 points to Yuan's 652.

It was still a big week for Yuan. This was his first ranking final, and the £76,000 runner-up prize is more than three times his previous best of £21,000. He rises to 26th in the world.

Where the form table puts him now

Our Form Rating weighs every result by the strength of the opponent, across the 184 players we track. Wu was ninth when the week began. He goes to the next event fifth, and Trump is still first despite Saturday. The rating reads Shenzhen as a strong week from a player who has had a quiet season, not yet as a change in who leads the tour.

Wu turns 23 on 14 October. The next ranking event is the Northern Ireland Open in Belfast from 18 October. Wu won the Worlds with our rating still favouring Zhao. Since then he has shown he can lose early like anyone else, and that he can still beat Trump 6–1 when it matters.